3° 



Thht Hawkeye Ornithologist and Oologist. 



allowing the extermination of species 

 desirable to man on account of their 

 song, or economically valuable to the 

 agriculturist as insect destroyers; and 

 the poetical quotations and crude 

 generalizations which are invoked to 

 excite our sympathies are such as re- 

 late to the latter species-i. e., song 

 birds. In other words, while in the 

 statistics cited, mainly gulls, terns, 

 herons, and 'shore birds' appear 

 prominently in the foreground, the 

 moral is pointed chief!}', if not entire- 

 ly, at 'song birds' — so that the non- 

 ornithological reader is extremely 

 liable to the impression that the fig- 

 ures themselves apply to the 'song 

 birds' as much as to any others, and 

 to have his sympathies aroused accor- 

 dingly. But when informed that 

 these are almost wholly a marine 

 species-gulls, terns, and 'shore birds' 

 -the scavengers of the ocean and or- 

 nithological tramps, so to speak, most 

 of them being migrants, whose home 

 is far beyond the confines of civiliza- 

 tion; whose only 'song' is a mere 

 'screech or squawk,' anything but 

 musical to human ears, and which 

 are not in any degree beneficial to 

 man except for their feathers — these 

 facts considered, does it really seem 

 so bad to make merchandise of their 

 plumage for ornamental purposes? 



"As for the destruction of thous- 

 ands of herons and other water birds 

 in the swamps of Florida and Texas, 

 this effects neither song birds nor 

 civilization, since their notes are no 

 more pleasing than those of the gulls 

 and terns; and they are doomed to 

 extirpation regardless of milliners 

 and fashion whenever civilization 

 drains and cultivates their nesting and 

 feeding places. If we look at this 

 part of the subject in an economic 

 light, we shall see that these birds, 

 chiefly herons, are the natural ene- 

 mies of fish, so that their destruction, 

 in the long run, directly favors the 

 increase of food for man. Further- 



more, their habitat is in districts en- 

 tirely uninhabitable to the human 

 species, and they would forever re- 

 main unknown to man but for the 

 ornithologist, the sportsman, and th3 

 milliner. 



Now, leaving the gulls, terns, shore 

 birds, grebes, and herons for the 

 present, let us examine some of the 

 figures of our pessimistic friends 

 which do apply to song birds, and 

 their use for millinery purposes. 

 Here we are struck at once with the 

 absence of definite figures, and in their 

 place find such generalization as 

 'many song birds, and 'war of exter- 

 mination' on catbirds, robins and 

 thrushes. One New York taxider- 

 mist is quoted as having 30,000 skins 

 of 'crows, crow blackbirds, red-wing- 

 ed blackbirds, and snow buntings.' 

 The first three species of disputed or 

 doubtful benefit to man on account 

 of their omnivorous diet, and with no 

 song worth mentioning, excepting 

 the clear whistle of t.ie red-winged 

 blackbird; while the fourth species is 

 a far northern sparrow, a winter 

 visitor only in the United States, ir- 

 regularly distributed, subsisting chief- 

 ly on seeds, and with no more song 

 while with us than the European 

 sparrows in our streets. 



"Again, the extent of territory 

 from which this 30,000 skins were de- 

 rived is not mentioned — a very im- 

 portant item, as I shall hope to show 

 later. 



"The most definite observations as 

 to the use of song birds are those of 

 Mr. F. W. Chapman as the result of 

 two afternoon walks in the 'shopping' 

 districts of New York. He gives a 

 list of 40 species observed, of which 

 15 only can, by the most liberal classi- 

 fication, be denominated song birds, 

 including two sparrows, which are 

 only winter visitors in the United 

 States. The aggregate number of 

 individuals belonging to this lot is 

 stated at 174, which may be classified 



